Interview with Ylva & Gabriella
Ylva and Gabriella are Rick Steves' Europe's first-ever mother-daughter travel guides, so we thought it was only appropriate to do a double interview. As guides for our Scandinavia tours, Ylva and Gabriella (both Stockholm natives) get to share their love of Swedish history while showing travelers the pristine, prosperous, and progressive region that they call home. Let's get to know this dynamic duo.
How did each of you get into guiding?
Ylva: I actually never had a choice. My mother is a teacher, and during the school holidays she organized bus tours to the European continent. One summer when I was 17, my mother accidentally over-sold a tour…and told me I had to guide it. I have been guiding ever since.
Gabriella: I remember many car rides with my parents when they'd point out buildings to tell stories about things that happened in them (my father is also a guide). And my mother told me and my siblings bedtime stories about kings and queens that were actual history. So my penchant for storytelling and interest in history came with my upbringing. And when I was 12 and the outbreak of mad cow disease stopped visits to Swedish farms, my parents started taking American farmers to our home in the suburbs of Stockholm. My siblings and I got to tell the visitors about life as a kid in Sweden, and I think that's what started my interest in guiding.
What do you like best about traveling with Rick Steves tour members?
Ylva: Rick Steves is amazing (as an employer — so much better than my mother!) and his tour members are even more amazing. Always curious and eager to learn.
Gabriella: It is wonderful to have interested people who ask all sorts of questions. I also love how social and positive the groups are, and how that usually creates a great atmosphere right from the first day of the tour.
What have been some of your most rewarding moments as a guide?
Ylva: When I get questions that make me see my little corner of the world with new eyes.
Gabriella: I love it when someone comes up to me and tells me I have helped them understand something tricky. That makes me very happy! It's one of the most important things in my job.
What surprises Americans most about traveling through Scandinavia?
Ylva: It has changed a lot lately. A decade ago, Americans often commented on how clean and neat the countries are and how slender and healthy the people look. We still hear that, but now it seems as if it is the political system and governmental functions that surprise them most.
What's life like when you're not leading tour groups?
Ylva: I enjoy the tour season immensely, but I still work at the Swedish Parliament, since politics is one of my biggest interests together with literature, art, and film; I'm always looking forward to be able to spend more time there. I also lead tours on the rooftop of the former parliament building in Stockholm's Old Town. It's fun. To spend time with my five children, four grandchildren (soon five), and my partner is another highlight of life. To cook and eat together, all of us, is great fun.
Gabriella: I spend my winters in Brazil with my partner and half of my family, where we enjoy a leisurely beach life, but we combine that with hiking, swimming, running, surfing, and doing CrossFit. It's great being able to share all of that with your family!
I heard the two of you do CrossFit together — that must be one fit family!
Ylva: CrossFit is, at least according to my children, a good complement to the long-distance running and yoga I've long enjoyed.
Gabriella: You are always varying the way you train and always learning something new. And getting strong and feeling healthy — like Pippi Longstocking! — it enriches life. Our whole family does CrossFit — we just might be the strongest family in the world!
Have you ever led a tour together?
Ylva: No, but I would love to. Gabriella is so smart and well informed — I would learn a lot from her. We have traveled a lot together, and it has been a true joy.
Gabriella: I would love to, too! Everything I am is thanks to my parents. Every time I'm with them I learn something new. There isn't a question they can't answer. They will forever be my biggest inspiration.
What's something about you that no one would guess?
Ylva: Last autumn I surprised myself (and I suppose everyone who knows me) by knitting a sweater.
Gabriella: I am a huge foodie and always mentally planning lunch while still having breakfast. But I don't think that would surprise the people who know me! According to one family story, when I was little my mother once said, while putting food on my plate, "Let me know if it is too much" — and I answered, "I like too much!"
Here's what Ylva and Gabriella won't tell you…but their tour members will:
"Ylva was wonderful!! She was engaging and always had a smile. She has that secret ingredient that ties together all the elements of an excellent tour guide: leadership, a wide range of knowledge, good storyteller, sense of humor, and loves her job and the people on the tour."
— Linda in Mission Viejo, CA
"Gabriella was outstanding in all ways. She was perpetually upbeat, positive, and professional. She took time to engage with each member of the group, and she demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the history, geography, and unique characteristics of each of the three countries we visited. I always enjoy the 'bus talks' on a Rick Steves tour and I was not disappointed: Gabriella covered interesting topics with authority and humor. She is terrific."
— Steven in Anacortes, WA